


we're coming up, not stopping 'cause we got this love (this light, come join the revolution)

by pearwaldorf



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Discussion of Reylo, Multi, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, References to Canonical Major Character Death, in the sense that it is a thing that could have happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24099538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pearwaldorf/pseuds/pearwaldorf
Summary: She brings Poe's hand to her mouth, grazes her lips against his knuckles. He blushes, and it is incredibly charming how easily he’s flustered.“I thought you and Finn—”“We loveyou, bucketbrain. How did you ever think it would be right without you?”—Rey has talks with Finn and Poe about what happened on Exegol.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn/Rey
Comments: 8
Kudos: 141





	we're coming up, not stopping 'cause we got this love (this light, come join the revolution)

**Author's Note:**

> Title from [Transviolet](https://youtu.be/rXeojh_QuWU). It's part of a [Finn/Poe/Rey mix](https://pearwaldorf.tumblr.com/post/140835797432/for-finding-your-way-fighting-back-to-back-and) I made ages ago, if you care to check it out.

There is, of course, a celebration. Somebody finds some fireworks, musical instruments are produced, and the alcohol flows like a river. Rey joins the party, allows drinks to be pressed into her hand, takes back-slaps and handshakes with polite, good humor. It is a relief to wander away from the revelry (after startling Pava and Connix who are making out behind the maintenance hangar storage). 

She casts out for Finn, and finds him under the watchful shadow of Black One. He passes her a flask, and she takes a sip. It’s Chandrilan whisky, bright and sharp as it burns pleasantly down her throat. 

“How long have you been saving this?” She asks. 

“Long enough.” He takes a drink, and she tries to subtly admire the line of his throat as he swallows. She does not think she succeeds in being circumspect.

“It’s over,” she says, like saying it will help her mind grasp the concept. 

“Yeah, it is. And most of us are still here.” 

(Earlier she passed the line of helmets commemorating those who made the ultimate sacrifice. She knew them all, of course, but some of them better than others. She makes a note to check in on Snap’s husband and children tomorrow.) 

“You said you had something to tell me, on Passana. And then we nearly died twice after that. I think you should probably let me know what it is before something else happens.” She reaches out for his hand, laces her fingers between his.

“Right. Yeah. What I wanted to say to you.” He takes a deep breath. 

“I’m in love with you, Rey. I think I have been since you whacked me with your staff on Jakku. The more I get to know you, the more time I spend with you, I fall more. The Force brought me to you, and I’m grateful for it every day.” 

She closes her eyes against the swell of feeling within and without. Of course she loves him. He was her first friend, and still her best. It’s not something she’s had the luxury of contemplating, but when she really thinks about it, of course she’s in love with him too.

Which is why she blurts out, “I think I died on Exegol. Ben found me and I woke up.” 

Finn blinks. “I didn’t know if it was real. I felt it. You were gone, and then you weren’t.” 

In the back of her mind, something rings joyous, excited. _Later_ , she shushes it.

“I kissed him. We kissed each other, really. And then he died.” It’s the first time she’s said this to anybody, and oh Force it’s too much to think about. She starts crying: horrible, undignified, full-body sobs. 

Finn puts his arms around her, rubbing soothing circles on her back. This just makes her cry more, bunching his shirt into her fists. When she’s finally exhausted herself, she sits back. Finn hands her a cocktail napkin, and she takes it even though she needs a good number more. 

“I thought you were going to tell me you killed him.” He says ruefully. 

She laughs, a bit hysterically. “I did, almost. And then I healed him.” 

He looks at her. “I think you might need to back up a few steps.” 

She details what happened after he lost sight of her on Kef Bir, all the way to the end of the fight with Palpatine. 

"I saw him go over the edge. I woke up in his arms, and I could feel him healing me. I was alive, and he was alive—" Her eyes fill with tears again. 

Finn rubs his thumb against her hand, gentle, soothing. "If you want me to give you some time, or forget I ever said anything, just say the word." She can see him mentally preparing to get his heart broken.

"It's not like that. I love you too."

"Oh." Finn's voice is more of an exhalation, wonder shining on his face. She leans over and kisses him, and it's the same but different. Finn's lips are plush, full, and his mouth tastes faintly of whisky. The exhilaration, the wild joy of it is the same. 

Physical connection makes emotion almost tangible, and she nearly staggers under the full weight of his love. Not to say she didn't feel the same from Ben in those brief moments, but it was tangled up in so much else: horror, grief, shame, self-loathing. Finn’s love is clear, sweet, and bright, like the rush of a stream. Ben’s felt like the same but after a forest fire: choked under so much else it was difficult to see; but it was there, if she cared to look for it.

(If they had walked out of that place together, maybe she would have. But there is little point in speculating about things that did not and will not happen.)

She settles into Finn’s arms, back against his chest. It's good to feel the rise and fall of his breath against her. It braces her against the sad, sharp regret of a now closed path.

"He wasn't Ren anyone, not at the end." She doesn't know why she feels the need to justify her behavior, when she knows Finn would never judge her like that. He's soothed her through those nightmares, same as she's done for him and Poe. She's told him what it was like having him in her head, and now she wonders if he felt it too, just a little.

"You're here, while he's not. That's all I need to know." His arms tighten around her waist. "I wish I could say thank you, somehow. He didn't have to save you. But he did."

"Maybe that's something we can figure out after your training gets a little further. You don't have to be a Jedi, but you can certainly use the Force. Like Leia."

“That sounds great.” He kisses her behind the ear. “One request though.”

“What?”

“I’m not wearing one of those stupid braids.” 

She laughs. “I’ll have one made especially for you.”

— 

“This is gonna make me sound awful, and I understand if you get angry at me for it, but honestly, his… not being here anymore makes things easier on all of us.” Poe rubs his forehead. 

They’re sitting in his temporary office (nobody has had the heart or the time to clear out Leia’s, even though it’s probably where he and Finn should be), and she’s stopped by to make sure he eats lunch and gets a semblance of a break. Although she’s not sure how restful helping your friend process incredibly complicated feelings about a man who tortured you both really is. 

“You’re not wrong though.” She takes a bite of her ration bar. “There would probably be trials and all sorts of headaches.” 

He pokes at his plate. “Oh, there’ll be plenty of those—not every senior First Order officer had the foresight to get shot for treason.” He smiles, but there’s very little humor in it. “But the biggest rancor of them all dodged a blaster bolt.” 

They eat in silence for a bit, and she uses the time to pluck up her courage. 

“I don’t know if Finn told you what happened. On Exegol.” 

He sets his plate aside. “Not all of it, I’m guessing. You died. He saved you.” 

“There’s more than that. On Kef Bir, Leia… she distracted him. I don’t know if she was reaching out to him, or for me, but I struck a killing blow. I could have left him there to die. But I didn’t.” 

She watches Poe connect the dots. He sighs and comes to sit next to her on the couch. He looks so tired, and she wants to take his head in her hands, brush at the little gray hairs that are starting to appear at his temples, smooth all the tension away. Instead she takes another bite.

“I’m not going to pretend I understand anything about the Force. But everything must have happened the way it did for a reason. If he made a conscious choice to walk towards the Dark Side, he also had a choice to step back from it. There’s no way you could have known for sure you’d die, or that he’d sacrifice his life for yours.” 

“You’re right. I couldn’t have. But it felt like the right thing to do.” She shakes her head, her eyes filling up again. The Force is not the same as prophecy, as much as people, even Jedi, want to believe it. It can show possible futures, and ones that it thinks are more likely, but it’s never absolute. In the end, somebody still has to make a choice.

Poe slips his hand into hers. “I have a lot of things to say about Ren I’m not going to apologize for. I’m glad he’s dead. But I’m also grateful Ben, or whoever he was, healed you. If he’d lived, I don’t know how civil I could be to him, given his past. But he saved someone important to Finn, and to me, and I’d at least give it a shot.” 

“Thank you, Poe. You didn’t have to say that, but you did. That means a great deal.” She brings his hand to her mouth, grazes her lips against his knuckles. He blushes, and it is incredibly charming how easily he’s flustered. 

“I thought you and Finn—” 

“We love _you_ , bucketbrain. How did you ever think it would be right without you?” She tugs him down by his collar and he kisses her properly, slow and unhurried, until she’s gasping. 

“I don’t suppose I could convince you to end the day early?” She has to try, even if it’s unlikely.

“Sorry, sweetheart. But I won’t stay late, how’s that?” He kisses her again, sweet and chaste. “Give that to Finn for me.” 

“Gladly, and with additional feeling.” She gets up from the couch, heads towards the door. She pauses before she leaves the room. “If you end up staying late, we will both be very cross.” 

Poe shivers theatrically. “I’ll take whatever punishment you both think is appropriate. And then I’ll make it up to you.” He looks up at her, and she can feel her cheeks getting hot. 

“You’re awful,” she finally says, closing the door.

“You love it!” He calls after her. Force help her, she really does.

— 

Finn’s staring at a terminal when she gets back to their quarters. He looks tired, so she starts rubbing circles at the back of his neck. He sighs and lays his head against her stomach. 

“You’ve done enough for today. Come rest.” She tugs at his hand, and he allows himself to be led to the couch. 

She leans over and kisses him, soft and gentle like she’d received earlier. “Poe said to give that to you. He promised he wouldn’t work late.” 

Finn huffs, fondly skeptical. “I’ll believe it when he walks through that door.” 

Rey pillows her head on Finn’s shoulder. “Well I’m going to wait right here, if you don’t mind.” 

He snakes an arm around her waist. “Then I will too, and not just because I’m too tired to move.” 

The door opens, and Rey opens her eyes. She wasn’t aware she’d closed them. Next to her, Finn is snoring softly. Poe smirks, laying his bag down by the entry. 

Gently, she prises Finn’s arm away and moves over, making a space between them for Poe. He slips into the place she just vacated and Finn curls an arm around Poe. His eyes crinkle in amusement, growing fond when Finn shifts and snuffles into his shoulder. Rey curls into Poe’s other side, her eyes drifting closed when she feels his fingers in her hair. 

There will be work to do tomorrow, the day after that, and probably for a good long while. But for now, there is rest, comfort, and most importantly, love.


End file.
